Implications: Nurses need to be aware of the intense emotions of women newly diagnosed with breast cancer. While assisting women to manage symptoms and symptom distress experienced during treatment, nurses need to be mindful of a woman’s view/perception of breast cancer that affect their experiences and response to symptoms encountered. Purpose: To understand the lived-experience and symptom distress encountered by women with breast cancer during adjuvant treatment through interpretation of narrative stories. Questions: (1.) What were the common experiences and shared meanings of women with breast cancer during adjuvant treatment? (2.) What were the women’s perceptions of distress related to diagnosis and symptoms experienced? Hermeneutic phenomenology was the interpretive approach used to understand women’s experiences through analysis of narrative texts. Methods: Hermeneutic phenomenological approach, emphasizing the complexity of the human experience and lived-experience was used for this study. Women who met inclusion criteria were interviewed and asked to tell their story about being diagnosed with breast cancer and their symptom experience. Interviews were audio-taped and transcribed providing data for interpretive analysis that consisted of thematic analysis of the taped narratives and teamwork with a senior nurse scientist. Findings: Four themes emerged: (1.) A woman’s view of the diagnosis of breast cancer affected her experience and response to symptoms/symptom distress; (2.) Symptoms of severe bone, neuropathy, taste changes and diminished attention span were most distressing, affecting functioning; (3.) Experiencing a precipitous transition from “a state of health to illness overnight based on the results of a mammogram”; (4.) Erasing former personhood by experiencing a body altering (physical and emotional) life changing illness. Conclusions: Women newly diagnosed with breast cancer experience a life transition and encounter symptoms that affect their attitude toward their body, their functioning and ultimately their quality of life. As more women become breast cancer survivors, this transition needs further exploration so that breast cancer survivors can go on to live the lives they have been given back.

Repository Posting Date:

27-Oct-2011

Date of Publication:

27-Oct-2011

Conference Date:

2005

Conference Name:

30th Annual Oncology Nursing Society Congress

Conference Host:

Oncology Nursing Society

Conference Location:

Orlando, Florida, USA

Note:

This is an abstract-only submission. If the author has submitted a full-text item based on this abstract, you may find it by browsing the Virginia Henderson Global Nursing e-Repository by author. If author contact information is available in this abstract, please feel free to contact him or her with your queries regarding this submission. Alternatively, please contact the conference host, journal, or publisher (according to the circumstance) for further details regarding this item.
If a citation is listed in this record, the item has been published and is available via open-access avenues or a journal/database subscription. Contact your library for assistance in obtaining the as-published article.

Implications: Nurses need to be aware of the intense emotions of women newly diagnosed with breast cancer. While assisting women to manage symptoms and symptom distress experienced during treatment, nurses need to be mindful of a woman&rsquo;s view/perception of breast cancer that affect their experiences and response to symptoms encountered. Purpose: To understand the lived-experience and symptom distress encountered by women with breast cancer during adjuvant treatment through interpretation of narrative stories. Questions: (1.) What were the common experiences and shared meanings of women with breast cancer during adjuvant treatment? (2.) What were the women&rsquo;s perceptions of distress related to diagnosis and symptoms experienced? Hermeneutic phenomenology was the interpretive approach used to understand women&rsquo;s experiences through analysis of narrative texts. Methods: Hermeneutic phenomenological approach, emphasizing the complexity of the human experience and lived-experience was used for this study. Women who met inclusion criteria were interviewed and asked to tell their story about being diagnosed with breast cancer and their symptom experience. Interviews were audio-taped and transcribed providing data for interpretive analysis that consisted of thematic analysis of the taped narratives and teamwork with a senior nurse scientist. Findings: Four themes emerged: (1.) A woman&rsquo;s view of the diagnosis of breast cancer affected her experience and response to symptoms/symptom distress; (2.) Symptoms of severe bone, neuropathy, taste changes and diminished attention span were most distressing, affecting functioning; (3.) Experiencing a precipitous transition from &ldquo;a state of health to illness overnight based on the results of a mammogram&rdquo;; (4.) Erasing former personhood by experiencing a body altering (physical and emotional) life changing illness. Conclusions: Women newly diagnosed with breast cancer experience a life transition and encounter symptoms that affect their attitude toward their body, their functioning and ultimately their quality of life. As more women become breast cancer survivors, this transition needs further exploration so that breast cancer survivors can go on to live the lives they have been given back.

en_GB

dc.date.available

2011-10-27T12:19:45Z

-

dc.date.issued

2011-10-27

en_GB

dc.date.accessioned

2011-10-27T12:19:45Z

-

dc.conference.date

2005

en_US

dc.conference.name

30th Annual Oncology Nursing Society Congress

en_US

dc.conference.host

Oncology Nursing Society

en_US

dc.conference.location

Orlando, Florida, USA

en_US

dc.description.note

This is an abstract-only submission. If the author has submitted a full-text item based on this abstract, you may find it by browsing the Virginia Henderson Global Nursing e-Repository by author. If author contact information is available in this abstract, please feel free to contact him or her with your queries regarding this submission. Alternatively, please contact the conference host, journal, or publisher (according to the circumstance) for further details regarding this item.
If a citation is listed in this record, the item has been published and is available via open-access avenues or a journal/database subscription. Contact your library for assistance in obtaining the as-published article.

-

All Items in this repository are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.